Forced to paddle this weekend...

[witenite0560]

I have a 68 Crestliner Del Rio with a 1970 115hp Evinrude. Went up in the mountains to go fishing and when I put the boat in, no start. Hmmmm? Thought I must have left something on and drained the battery. So, I used my little emergency jumpstart battery and she fired right up. Drove around the lake a bit, probably 30 - 45 minutes, figured that would give it a fair charge. Made sure everything was off and went to bed. Next morning, no start and my little jumpstarter didn't have enough left in it either. Thought that I hadn't run it around and let it charge enough the evening before. Since I'd been told that jumping them is not a good idea and didn't want to press my luck, I pulled the battery, took it to my pickup and hooked jumper cables to it and charged it for 30 - 40 min. Worked great, until late that afternoon! I was trolling at idle against the wind and then shutting the motor off and drifting the other direction with the wind. After a drift I went to start the motor and no go!! I'd been using the CD player and depth finder, but didn't think they'd draw too much. Fortunately, I was only about 150 - 200 yds from the ramp, but had a pretty strong breeze broadside that wanted to blow me out into the lake. So, I pointed the bow at the ramp, set the motor/rudder slightly to starboard, broke out the canoe paddle and started paddling like mad!! I had anchored as soon as I realized I was in trouble and could have waited for some fellas who were trolling about 1/2 mile behind me to come by and ask for a tow. But, looked like we were going to get a thunderstorm and I figured if I couldn't make any headway I'd throw the anchor back out and wait. I was pretty beat, but I only missed my mark by a couple of yards. So, I pulled the battery again and charged it with the pickup, again. Put it back in and it started great. But, not wanting to paddle anymore, I loaded her up.
Before I did though, I got out my multimeter and checked a few things and I'm puzzled. Ok, with the key off, the battery showed 12.8v. With the engine running I got nothing on the volt meter. Shouldn't I at least get battery voltage, even if the alternator isn't working? If the alternator is working won't I get whatever the alternator output voltage is?
So, I got home and into my book. Checked the rectifier and sure enough, it appeared that one diode was bad. Checked the yellow and yellow/gray wires from the alternator and they show no shorts and just slightly higher than spec for resistance (book says .75 +/_ .2, I got 1.2 I attributed that to maybe a not so accurately calibrated meter and that the engine was warm, so the coils were too. Thoughts?) Anyway, got a new rectifier and installed it. Took the boat down to the lake near home. Checked battery voltage with key off (12.8v), checked battery voltage with engine running (nada, zip, zilch!). I'm confused!! Granted, I'm presuming that, like a car, you should show alternator output voltage at the battery, if it's working and just existing battery voltage, if the alternator is not putting out. Am I wrong? Any insight will be appreciated!!
By the way, I had decided to install a Voltmeter. Even picked one up, just not sure where to wire it in now.

 

[cougar1985]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

did you check the heavy duty fuse ?i think its a 60 amp fuse .your manual should show where its located and what it looks like.should be in a junction box possibly.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

Boy ,red flags and warning bells and you kept right on going out.
One failed start and I would not have gone out without a second battery, I've learned not to assume anything in a boat.

Have you looked at the v regulator?
Could be stator too ...I am guessing, have you got a manual?
Does it use a seperate regulator?

 

[cougar1985]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

one other thing you may want to check out.make sure the battery cables are good .with that old of a motor maybe the cables have turned green.had a older merc that gave me fits for awhile and on close inspection of the cables they were basically rotten.the cables should be copper not copper and green or copper with white through them which indicates their no good for anything but the scrap heap.

 

[oceansbreeze]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

You can have voltage, but no amps. you need cranking amps..... So you replaced the rectifier, but you have yet to simply try another battery. I had a car battery like this once, car kept stalling me, and I would take the meter and it was always reading 12-13v. I was confused, but the garage said the amps were reading low and it should be replaced. I expected an expensive engine issue, but just needed a battery.....

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

I just had to get a new battery. The old one would show a charge and had 12.6V. Turn the ignition and it would not even crank, battery would drop to 2V. Let off the key and right back to 12V.

I'm curious about the jump starting with a box. Aren't they just a 12V battery in a box with cables? Will they harm the motor?

 

[oceansbreeze]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

I'm curious about the jump starting with a box. Aren't they just a 12V battery in a box with cables? Will they harm the motor?

yeah, you can buy them in any automotive store.... however, never a good idea using one on a boat in the lake, one spark from hooking up the cables, and well, you can imagine the worst case scenario...

 

[witenite0560]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

Yeah, I know, red flags and I still went. But, live and learn, eh! Why I didn't take my spare battery with me, too? Go figure.

Battery seems to check out fine, but I'm going to take it and have it load tested. Going to put the spare in and see if I get the same readings with my multimeter, too. Going to look the cables over good again and if I find anything questionable get new ones. I'm still kind of stumped, cuz' I think I should be getting 12.5 - 13.5volts at the battery on the multimeter with the engine running and I get nothing.

As for the jumpstarting issue, the local Johnson/Evinrude guy told me to never, ever jumpstart the early electronic ignition motors, like mine. The ignition box and rectifiers are very, very sensitive to spikes and stray voltage and will fry. It seems he was right, at least as far as the rectifier went. Unless, of course, it's been bad for some time and I just didn't know it.

Oh, yep, I do have a manual and no, it does not use a seperate voltage regulator. The stator checks ok, not grounding out and continuity through the windings.

 

[oceansbreeze]

Re: Forced to paddle this weekend...

again, you need amps, not volts.... if it started with the jump battery, which obviously had volts and amps.... then it has to be the batetry, and you likely damaged the rectifier at that time... hook up the spare you mention. I haven't read of you trying that yet...